John is nominating board games, Alison should read more, and Liz bought two memberships.
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Content warnings this episode: None
Letters of comment
Andrew Hogg (Discord)
Chris Garcia (email)
Ivan Sinha (Facebook)
Kev McVeigh (Facebook)
Phil Dyson (Facebook)
Esther MacCallum-Stewart (Facebook)
Jonny Harden (Mastodon)
Paul Weimer (email)
We also heard from Brian Nisbet, Bridget Bradshaw, Els, Farah Mendlesohn, Kin-Ming Looi
Worldcon 2026: LAcon V in Los Angeles, USA
Staff memberships are $100
Hugo nominations are open
Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom
We’re not recusing this year!
Best Novel:
On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle, translated by Barbara J Haveland
A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
Every Version of You by Grace Chan
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
Slow Gods by Claire North
Luminous by Silvia Park
There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm
We believe this is eligible because (a) the version published in 2025 is different to the previously self-published version and (b) there is precedent through Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
When There Are Wolves Again by EJ Swift
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
The Singing Hill Cycle by Nghi Vo
The Salt Oracle by Lorraine Wilson
Best Game/Interactive Work:
Newfangled electric games:
Blue Prince
Hades II
Good old-fashioned games:
The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game
Galactic Cruise
The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship
The Old King’s Crown
Star Trek: Captain’s Chair
Star Wars: Battle of Hoth
Take Time
Vantage
Niall Harrison’s list of Best Translated Novels
Fan funds
Eurocon 2026: Metropol Con Berlin
Natcon/Swancon 2026: Swancon 50 in Perth, Australia
The TAFF candidates are Lisa Hertel and Kat Templeton, to Metropol Con
The GUFF candidates are Farah Mendlesohn and Misha Sumra, to Swancon 50
EFF nominations close on 15 March, to Metropol Con
Picks
John: Murderbot
Alison: The UFO 50 soundtrack
VVVVVV
Liz: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Credits
Cover art: “Alison forgot she had to do the cover” by Alison Scott
Alt text: Text reading “OCTOTHORPE 154* *See, it’s like this. This is the first day of 2026 that hasn’t been cold, or wet, or both, so instead of doing the Octothorpe cover I went for a nice walk. And bought no board games, but a jigsaw. And did the jigsaw. Sorry.” The text is on top of a photograph of a bridge and some trees underneath a blue sky.
Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)
New Zealand